Ronald’s Crisis

On September 15, 2007 Ronald McDonald, who had fallen in love with the food of New York and become frustrated with the corporate agenda of McDonald’s, stepped into action closing every McDonald’s store in Manhattan. The closure, while temporary, affected all stores and was accomplished using simple signs and tape.

Later that day, L.M. Bogad (of the Clandestine Insurgent Rebel Clown Army and author) appeared as Ronald McDonald giving a press conference. Also involved was writer/performer Kevin Crook as a McDonald’s corporate representative who somehow showed me up as a straight man. See the video:

Credits

Ronald’s Crisis was a direct collaboration with L.M. Bogad and Kevin Crook as co-writers and performers. The project involved the contributions of nearly 30 people, especially Jeff Crouse, and Brian Smeets. The kernel of the idea was developed at Eyebeam in discussions with Julia Schwadron, Mouna Andraos, and James Powderly among others.

UPDATE: Ronald’s Crisis was used as a template for the recent Rainforest Action Network protest in their campaign against Bank of America. See the slideshow here.